Multiplat BALDUR'S GATE III

[MusterX]

Just hit another tier, 814,000 concurrent players reported earlier today. 9th most in Steam history. To put it in perspective, at Elden Ring's peak on Steam it hit 953,000. For a niche genre like CRPG to hit 814,000 today is insane.

 

[MusterX]

Maaaaaan, level 12 isnt high enough. I dont want to wait for BG4 to get to level 20

They may be holding out a few levels for DLC

 

[Bob Gray]

They may be holding out a few levels for DLC

I'm sure that'll happen. But level 20? I dont see that happening unless they do a sequel.

 

[Bob Gray]

I bought this on a whim without having played the first two games and am blown away by how immense this game is. Started the game as a rogue, but I'm gonna restart after hearing about the Dark Urge class.

My PC is handling it surprising well. Had to lower some settings like clouds and shadows, but it's trucking along.

Im playing dark urge, and so far its genuinely interesting and surprising.

 

[MusterX]

I'm sure that'll happen. But level 20? I dont see that happening unless they do a sequel.

You are probably right but D&D scale is not the same scale as other games or universes. Getting to 12 is a fair amount of adventuring, and by fair I mean A LOT. (I also wish it was 20)

 

[HeLLMuTT]

Downloading now on steam.....

 

[Batjester]

PS5 version is out in 29 days.

Counting down the days.

 

[Valhoven]

Counting down the days.

Nice, brother. You play the genre before or maiden go? I can recommend a 9m YT video if first time that talks combat in this with a fun little video game history lesson on how it all works.

 

[MidgardSerpent]

Not pathfinder but I loved Wasteland 3 and bought the DLC for it as well. I'll tell you another surprisingly good turn-based game, it actually shocked me how much I liked it, Desperados 3.

I actually was just playing Desperados 3 until Jagged Alliance 3 was released. I also played that studio's older release, Shadow Tactics, I think I played it on hard and got to the last second to last level until I bowed out, just didn't have enough motivation to finish the really hard map. You really need to be in the mindset to bite down, but also be patient for this type of game. They're well made, but I don't get as much enjoyment from them as I would have liked. But Desperados 3 isn't really considered turn-based, right? More like tactical stealth with pause to do the multi-attack stealth kills.

 

[Batjester]

Nice, brother. You play the genre before or maiden go? I can recommend a 9m YT video if first time that talks combat in this with a fun little video game history lesson on how it all works.

Played the original and 2 a ton back in the day. Sunk more hours than I can count on Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2.

Currently nearly 700 hours in on Elden Ring (I suck and wander around a lot, plus killing sheep takes time).

I actually had my exes son message me last week about how great the game was and how he can't wait for me to try it. First time in a couple years we had any contact. Kinda cool.

 

[MusterX]

I actually was just playing Desperados 3 until Jagged Alliance 3 was released. I also played that studio's older release, Shadow Tactics, I think I played it on hard and got to the last second to last level until I bowed out, just didn't have enough motivation to finish the really hard map. You really need to be in the mindset to bite down, but also be patient for this type of game. They're well made, but I don't get as much enjoyment from them as I would have liked. But Desperados 3 isn't really considered turn-based, right? More like tactical stealth with pause to do the multi-attack stealth kills.

Technically not turn-based I guess but still kinda turn-based because you can pause to issue commands. Its like a weird in between thing. I had a lot of fun playing it is mostly what I remember but its been several years. I would play a Desperados 4 if they made it.

 

[MidgardSerpent]

Maaaaaan, level 12 isnt high enough. I dont want to wait for BG4 to get to level 20

Yeah, I'm worried about that. I'm sure there is a level-up curve that has been implemented that makes sense, but I'm already at level 3/4 a few hours in act 1. Not sure if I even had more than a dozen fights. With a vanilla walkthrough of the game reportedly being around 75+ hours, it's hard not to imagine maxing out well before that. And it sucks plateau-ing too early in the game because it takes away one of the pillars of rewarding the players with a sense of progress.

Pathfinder WOTR is a hardcore crpg too and you can level up up to 20 plus seperate Mythic paths, feels there is way more leeway there.

 

[Valhoven]

Man, this game is something else and I'm sure has peers looking on in wanting to both emulate and bottle that lightning. PS5 preorders are now skyrocketing, reports GamesRadar+ here.

 

[MusterX]

Man, this game is something else and I'm sure has peers looking on in wanting to both emulate and bottle that lightning. PS5 preorders are now skyrocketing, reports GamesRadar+ here.

Perfect storm. It would take a miracle for any other studio to sort of clone this situation. Larian had to buy the rights to D&D to make this game. Then they had a very specialized employee roster that had experience making Divinity: Original Sin and then Original Sin 2. So they had the expertise in place and were well practiced, which is important. Then they had a 6 year development cycle where almost 3 years of it was in Early Release and they actually listened to the people in Early Release and made changes.

Cliffs: It will take a rather long period before we see another studio replicate this effort. Even if they started today and traveled the perfect path it would be 5-10 years of waiting.

 

[method115]

Yeah, I'm worried about that. I'm sure there is a level-up curve that has been implemented that makes sense, but I'm already at level 3/4 a few hours in act 1. Not sure if I even had more than a dozen fights. With a vanilla walkthrough of the game reportedly being around 75+ hours, it's hard not to imagine maxing out well before that. And it sucks plateau-ing too early in the game because it takes away one of the pillars of rewarding the players with a sense of progress.

Pathfinder WOTR is a hardcore crpg too and you can level up up to 20 plus seperate Mythic paths, feels there is way more leeway there.

I really never understood why games like this always keep the max level so low.

 

[MidgardSerpent]

I really never understood why games like this always keep the max level so low.

My initial thought was Larian was just tightly following DnD rulesets, but apparently, that goes up to 20 not 12, so I have no idea.

 

[MusterX]

Yeah, I'm worried about that. I'm sure there is a level-up curve that has been implemented that makes sense, but I'm already at level 3/4 a few hours in act 1. Not sure if I even had more than a dozen fights. With a vanilla walkthrough of the game reportedly being around 75+ hours, it's hard not to imagine maxing out well before that. And it sucks plateau-ing too early in the game because it takes away one of the pillars of rewarding the players with a sense of progress.

Pathfinder WOTR is a hardcore crpg too and you can level up up to 20 plus seperate Mythic paths, feels there is way more leeway there.

Leveling scales up, not sure how high but it definitely takes a considerable amount more per level. Act 1 can go for 20-30 hours if you reveal the entire map and do all the quests of your camp and also go and find all the little secret hidden areas. I played 25 hours in early access in Act 1 and thought I was ready for release and I'm still finding stuff I didn't even know existed on the map.

 

[MusterX]

I really never understood why games like this always keep the max level so low.

The bigger the numbers get the more problematic things like scaling become. Look at Blizzard as an example. They literally have had to do what they call a "Big Crunch" multiple times in wow to reduce the value of either gold or the scaling on damage and overall character health because it at some point becomes uncontrollable for them.

But more to the point, I think sometimes a company like Larian just wants you to have a good time and go adventuring which IS the reward, not levels. They don't want levels to be the reward, they want vistas and conversations, and encounters, and wondering whats around the next bend to be the reward.

P.S. I also wish the level cap was 20.

 

[MidgardSerpent]

The bigger the numbers get the more problematic things like scaling become. Look at Blizzard as an example. They literally have had to do what they call a "Big Crunch" multiple times in wow to reduce the value of either gold or the scaling on damage and overall character health because it at some point becomes uncontrollable for them.

But more to the point, I think sometimes a company like Larian just wants you to have a good time and go adventuring which IS the reward, not levels. They don't want levels to be the reward, they want vistas and conversations, and encounters, and wondering whats around the next bend to be the reward.

P.S. I also wish the level cap was 20.

Yeah, for an analogy, as a kid we used to have these shiny Dragon Ball Z sticker cards with power levels on them for characters, so when characters got way more powerful they obviously added another zero or more, but with dbz being all about getting stronger some of the numbers of those cards started to get pretty ridiculous in both absolute and relative sense. I'm sure balancing and scaling is a bitch to work out in games like these.

I just finished an (I think) relatively minor side quest about Acolytes going into a nearby cave to kill an owlbear to avenge their mentor. And so with me being a neurotic, I was bothered by some outcomes so I kept scum saving and reloading to see what would be the 'best' outcome and it was apparent (also from reading guides online) there are tons of different permutations from this trivial quest alone. It must be a logistical hell to keep everything making sense.

 

[MusterX]

Yeah, for an analogy, as a kid we used to have these shiny Dragon Ball Z sticker cards with power levels on them for characters, so when characters got way more powerful they obviously added another zero or more, but with dbz being all about getting stronger some of the numbers of those cards started to get pretty ridiculous in both absolute and relative sense. I'm sure balancing and scaling is a bitch to work out in games like these.

I just finished an (I think) relatively minor side quest about Acolytes going into a nearby cave to kill an owlbear to avenge their mentor. And so with me being a neurotic, I was bothered by some outcomes so I kept scum saving and reloading to see what would be the 'best' outcome and it was apparent (also from reading guides online) there are tons of different permutations from this trivial quest alone. It must be a logistical hell to keep everything making sense.

My most recent early game discovery, slight spoiler but no details.

Spoiler

The swamp south of the goblin camp contains an entire thing involving a nasty surprise.